relaxed Friday

It's been a good week for getting around. The van has been idle in the driveway since Sunday (Desperate Housewives airs on Sundays).

First, the bus riding: Tuesday and Wednesday were bus-riding days. I'm getting the hang of riding #9 from Brevard Road. It's a shame there's not a bus stop near the house, but the drivers are always very nice, and they stop for us.

I've used the Corolla a bit, but not to get to work. Tuesday I drove it a few miles to a ride-share. We meet at a spot, then carpool down to Fletcher to play some volleyball. We would play in Asheville, but Asheville Parks and Recreation saw fit to cancel the league games here. On the one hand, driving to Fletcher burns a lot of gas. On the other hand, we managed to pack nine adults into two vehicles. I put about six more miles on the Corolla just going back and forth to the carpool spot.

Oh yes, here's another 100+ miles I had forgotten about... Sherry and Nathan went to Franklin yesterday. They took the Corolla. Well, it's better than driving the van.

I'm happy to have the day off today.

I put perhaps another six miles (I'm guessing) on the Corolla today. I was invited for a panel discussion at Erwin Middle School. Surely there's no way to get to EMS without driving (I've never seen a runner on New Leicester Highway. I value my health and life too much to run that road). I drove out there and back. It was a lot of fun.

Speaking of running, I went out for a run in West Asheville around noon. I usually run early in the morning, but today looked like a good day for a later run (temp this morning was 37 F). The temperature at 11:30 was fine, but the traffic, geez. I did not remember the traffic being so bad in WA that time of day. Please, if you see a runner in the road, treat him like a cyclist. Give him a wide berth. If he's on the sidewalk or in a crosswalk, realize that he's a pedestrian.

Drivers usually ignore the crosswalks on Haywood Road, particularly the one near Burgermeister. Folks, this is a state law. Drivers must stop for a pedestrian in the crosswalk. Having said that, Pedestrians, hear me: don't plan on ANY drivers stopping at the Burgermeister crosswalk for you-- for practical purposes, it may as well not exist.

I walked up to Haywood Road (I am blogging this from the West End Bakery--the Chocolate/Ginger muffin is tasty), where I can combine a lot of errands. It's a crisp, sunny day--ideal for a walk, a perfect fall day. It's sunny and cool. The trees on Vermont Ave. still have their leaves, but not for long. All in all, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Do you live in a neighborhood? I recommend you take a walk through it.

Be careful in the crosswalks.

burning that gas

Saturday:

Yesterday, we set out to buy groceries. We really tried to see if it could be done via bus. Amazing Savings? Only if you're willing to walk 1/2 mile to the store, and 1/2 mile back to the bus stop with your groceries. For us, that would have meant three bus passes to get there, and three bus passes to return home (I bought eleven passes for seven dollars). Mind you, we would also have to take a bus to downtown (a twenty or thirty minute trip that would take ten minutes in the car), and another bus to Sweeten Creek Road. Needless to say, any savings that we might realize at the store would be offset by the cost of the bus tickets @ 6(7/11)= $3.82. I know that tickets for children are available at reduced cost, but I had none on hand. I'm not about to estimate the time required for such a trip. Three hours? Four hours or more, probably.

We swung by Earth Fare next, but the best path happens to be via the river and then up Craven Street. Luckily we were in no hurry. We stopped for at least five minutes, probably ten minutes, for a train. I enjoyed looking at all the boxcar graffiti, but honestly it would have been very annoying had we been in a hurry.

Sunday:

For entertainment in the morning and early afternoon, we walked over to Vermont Avenue for their annual (?) block party. We don't live on Vermont, which is one of the prettiest streets in West Asheville, but we live close enough that we could sneak in. I highly recommend the annual block party. If your neighborhood doesn't have one, start one. Cakewalk! Bag toss! Ping pong! Live music and a bicycle parade! I laughed; I cried. Well, I actually didn't cry.

The Asheville Transit Authority does not run buses on Sundays. So, with a child due to return to his mother's house at 4 PM Sunday, what's a man to do? I cranked up the Toyota and headed over to Montford.

I'm blogging from Asheville Pizza and Brewing on Merrimon Avenue; after the evening here, I will drive home.

After all, while most of the Asheville gas stations are out of gas, I still have half a tank. For the time being.